


Expect the Unexpected

by Shadow_Reaper



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/M, M/M, all of the shennanigans, these kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-08 12:42:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3209615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_Reaper/pseuds/Shadow_Reaper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck Hansen hadn't expected to wake up to find a vaguely familiar blond, shirtless in the middle of his living room on a sleepy Sunday morning. He much less expected to have the blond turn to him and offer him a sheepish "how ya doin'?" upon noticing his arrival. As far as Chuck was concerned he should've known, nothing in his life ever quite went to plan and he really should've learned to expect the unexpected at this point. </p>
<p>Or<br/>The time Raleigh Becket accidentally broke into Chuck Hansen's apartment thinking it was Yancy's and how they kinda sorta maybe became friends</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And so it Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, so I saw this prompt: “I accidentally broke into your house/apartment because my friend lives next door to you and I was in the area, drunk, and I thought I was climbing into the right window and falling asleep on the right couch (and I didn’t question when you got a dog) so now I’m hungover and shirtless on your living room “so um hi, howya doin’?”  
> and thought it was too fantastic to not turn into a series so here I am, working on a chapter series because why not? I hope y'all enjoy!

            Of all of the things Chuck Hansen expected out of a lazy Sunday morning, waking up to find a half-naked, suspiciously familiar blond man in his living room was not one of them. Chuck stopped dead as he eyed the blond cautiously. The man sat on his couch, scratching his head and looking around sleepily, confused by the unfamiliar surroundings. Chuck glared and looked around for a weapon, still unsure of how the hell the man got into his apartment in the first place. The man turned around, most likely realizing that he was being watched, and smiled sheepishly at the younger man in front of him.

“Oh, umm…hi.” The blond spoke jovially albeit fairly softly, waving slightly at Chuck as he spoke.

            A faint blush tinged his cheeks pink and Chuck narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth.

“’The fuck are you and ‘the fuck are you doing in my apartment?” Chuck growled.

            The other man’s eyebrows shot into his hairline out of surprise; Chuck fought back the smirk tugging at his lips, apparently the blond wasn’t expecting Chuck to have an accent.

“Well this isn’t how I wanted to make this introduction…” The blond mumbled, mostly to himself, before making eye contact with Chuck. Which was awkward to say the least. “I’m Raleigh Becket—“ 

            Before Raleigh could continue Chuck groaned in exasperation, “Another one? Oh Jesus Christ.”  He threw his hands up as he spoke; he had a hard enough time dealing with Yancy half the time, he didn’t need another Becket to deal with. As far as Chuck was concerned—and he cited Yancy as empirical evidence—anyone with the last name Becket was bound to be ridiculous. So far Raleigh seemed to be proving Chuck’s assumption correct, given how he was currently seated on Chuck’s couch, shirtless and looking slightly hung over. Raleigh, to his credit, chuckled lightly at the response his last name received.

“I take it you’ve met my brother Yancy.”

            Chuck raised an incredulous, and slightly annoyed, eyebrow at Raleigh before he spoke, “Met him? Mate, he’s over here constantly. The fuckin’ idiot…”

            Raleigh laughed once more and stood up.

“I’m sorry about this… I just got in town yesterday and I went out with a friend and got drunk. You kinda live next door to Yance and I guess I broke in here and passed out on your couch…”

            Chuck rolled his eyes.

“Bloody yanks.”

“So umm… yeah, hi, howya doin’ neighbor?” Raleigh smiled brightly at the end of his question and Chuck practically recoiled.

“I should’ve known that smile was hereditary, no way Yancy had that without it being a genetic thing… It’s too bloody early for that, put it away.” Chuck snapped, his tone was biting but Raleigh took it in stride, or at least he tried to.

            Raleigh eyed the Aussie in front of him carefully as Chuck sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. He appeared to be slightly shorter than him, Raleigh pegged him to be around Yancy’s height of six foot. He guessed that Chuck was younger than him, although he couldn’t tell by how much. His ginger hair was mussed, disheveled by sleep and stubble dotted his cheeks. Seeing the stubble on Chuck’s face made Raleigh absentmindedly run a hand over his own chin, which felt rough to the touch. Chuck yawned despite himself, he was trying his best to keep glaring at Raleigh but it was hard to do when he was exhausted. The yawn drew Raleigh’s attention to Chuck’s attire; he wore a pair of loose, grey sweatpants and a tight black singlet. Raleigh assumed he just got out of bed, most likely to get something to eat and happened across the scene in his living room. Chuck’s eyes snapped open and Raleigh looked into the green eyes briefly before smiling, trying his best to remain cordial despite the other man’s obvious dislike of Yancy and his fairly reasonable annoyance with his current situation.

“Can I make you breakfast or something?” Raleigh asked quietly, hoping that if Chuck’s appetite was sated then he’d calm down a bit.

            Chuck raised an eyebrow at him and sighed.

“Sure, knock yourself out.”

            Raleigh smiled, toning down the gigawatt smile just so Chuck wouldn’t snap at him again; Raleigh liked to think of himself as a patient man for the most part, he had to be when dealing with Yancy all his life, but there was only so much attitude he could take before snapping. And that was without a hangover. Chuck gestured vaguely in the direction of the kitchen and Raleigh followed the gesture, finding the kitchen with ease. As Raleigh walked off Chuck looked around for Max, who happily came trotting up to his master the moment his name left Chuck’s lips. Max sat down at Chucks feet, wagging his stumpy tail and looking up at Chuck expectantly. Chuck sighed and knelt down and scratched the bulldog on his head.

“Where the hell were you when he broke in here mate?”

            Raleigh came out of the kitchen and smiled sheepishly. Chuck, hearing the shuffling of feet coming from the direction of the kitchen looked to the doorway on the opposite end of the living room.

“Actually, he kinda barked at me a little when I first laid down on the couch. I wondered when Yance got a dog but I didn’t really question it…he left me alone after I scratched him a bit.”

            Chuck looked back down at Max and shook his head.

“You are the worst guard dog ever.” Chuck stood up and looked at Raleigh. “And you, stop poaching my dog.”

            Raleigh put his hands up, indicating surrender and smiled a bit. He turned back around, forgetting about what he was going to ask Chuck and returning to the kitchen instead. Chuck followed him out, eyeing the man carefully as he entered the kitchen, which was just on the opposite side of the hallway from the living room. Raleigh settled into the kitchen, opening up the refrigerator to establish what all he could make with what was available. Chuck sat down in one of the bar stools surrounding the small bar that split the kitchen in half. He watched as Raleigh pulled out milk and eggs before moving on to open the cabinets surrounding the fridge.

“So Ray, how the hell did you get in here?” Chuck drawled casually, eager to find out where the breach in his apartment occurred.

            Raleigh pulled out some pancake batter and set about trying to find a bowl to mix the batter in.

“Living room window. You and Yance have the same general layout in your apartment from what I can tell, and I remembered him saying that if I lost my key the living room window can be jimmied fairly easily.”

“Know a lot about breaking and entering Ray?”

            Raleigh stopped and turned towards Chuck, placing the large bowl he’d found on the counter top. Chuck noticed that the blond man’s jaw was tensed and his blue eyes were alight. Clearly he was holding back his growing anger with the repeated jabs Chuck was throwing at him. Chuck smirked, he enjoyed getting a rise out of Raleigh and as far as he was concerned, he deserved it for breaking into the wrong apartment anyway.

Raleigh’s voice was tight as he spoke, his eyes locking with Chuck’s, “It’s Raleigh.”

“Whatever.” Chuck retorted, he broke eye contact with Raleigh and yawned, indicating that he was unconcerned about the current tone of the conversation.

            Raleigh glared at the other man but fought back the urge to give into the man’s baiting. He set about mixing the pancake batter before addressing Chuck once more.

“Where are the pans?” He asked curtly.

“Bottom left drawer by the stove.” Chuck answered without giving it much thought.

            An awkward tension settled between the two men and Chuck caught Raleigh eying the clock on the stove on more than one occasion as he cooked the pancakes. Raleigh was biding his time until he knew Yancy would be awake, which on a Sunday would mean around ten am because the eldest Becket always had a massive amount of emails to deal with on Sunday mornings, much to his chagrin. The clock on the stove read nine fifteen am and Raleigh sighed as he flipped a pancake. Chuck yawned once more and before he could start to annoy Raleigh once more Raleigh presented him with a plate of pancakes, or “hotcakes” as the man had called them. Chuck shrugged and got out of his seat, he grabbed a fork out of one of the drawers by the fridge and flopped back down in the bar stool. He took a bite of pancake and chewed; he eyed Raleigh as he chewed. Raleigh sighed and rolled his eyes, just desperately wanting to get out of this situation. His head was starting to throb dully and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could ignore it.

“Do you have any ibuprofen? My head’s killing me…” Raleigh asked quietly, not wanting to ask Chuck for anything.

            Chuck pointed at a drawer on the opposite side of the fridge, next to where he’d gotten the fork from. Raleigh walked over and pulled the drawer open, eying the various painkillers and medical gauze, tape and a prescription bottle warily. Chuck swallowed his bite of pancake and rolled his eyes at Raleigh’s reaction.

“I’m an athlete Ray, not a drug dealer.” He remarked coolly before taking another bite of pancake.

            Raleigh sighed and pulled out a bottle of Advil; he supposed all of the items in the drawer could be used to treat athletics related injuries, although he wasn’t sure why Chuck kept them in the kitchen. Raleigh shook out three tablets of the medicine and capped off the bottle once more. He grabbed a glass from the same cabinet that held the plates and bowls and filled it with tap water. He took the pills and finished the glass of water before addressing Chuck again.

“Why do you keep all that in the kitchen?” Raleigh asked as he put his glass on the counter.

“Do you always ask people so many questions when you break into their houses?” Chuck countered.

            Raleigh glared at Chuck and Chuck smirked. Raleigh shook his head and turned to look at the clock once more; it was nine thirty, which meant that if he was lucky Yancy would be awake. However, considering his luck so far, Raleigh was almost positive that wouldn’t be the case. He chose to ignore Chuck’s comment in favor of getting more water, hoping that it would drown out any other snide comment Chuck decided to make in the immediate future. Chuck finished his pancakes and got up, putting the plate in the sink without saying a word to the other man in the room. This whole situation was beyond awkward as far as Chuck was concerned and he didn’t feel like dealing with it anymore. This was shaping up to be anything but a boring Sunday. Raleigh shifted his weight from foot to foot before deciding to risk it and head over to the apartment he was supposed to be sharing with his brother, the apartment that he should’ve broken into the night before.

“I’m gonna go and get Yance out of bed…”

            Chuck made a motion of “go on then” with his hands, practically shooing Raleigh out of his kitchen.

“Tell your drongo of a brother not to let you go drinking again Ray.” He stated as Raleigh started to leave the kitchen.

            Before Raleigh could retort with something particularly rude—and ask what drongo meant—Chuck smirked at him once more, dimples on full display as he spoke. “Thanks for the pancakes.” Raleigh smiled at that, and Chuck rolled his eyes brushing past Raleigh as he did. Raleigh headed for the front door, trying to figure out how the hell he was going to explain all of this to Yancy. And whether or not Yancy would ever let him live this whole thing down. Once he established that the odds of the latter were very, very small he opened Chuck’s front door and walked out into the brisk, Sunday morning. He shivered slightly as he closed the door and walked over to where he was supposed to be living.

            Raleigh banged on the door, hoping that Yancy was awake enough to hear the noise. “Yance! Open up!” He yelled as he banged. After a few more loud knocks, Yancy threw the door open, eyes still bleary from having just woken up. He stood in the doorway, blond hair mussed, in tight boxer briefs and a loose grey t-shirt. Raleigh pushed past him and Yancy closed the door behind him. The eldest Becket turned to Raleigh, eying him carefully. A smirk tugged at his lips.

“Where’s your shirt kid?” Yancy’s voice was gruff, still gravelly from sleep as he spoke.

            Raleigh raised an eyebrow, confused about what he had meant and then looked down. The vast expanse of skin he saw when he looked down surprised him, he didn’t remember taking off his shirt. Then again, he didn’t remember a lot of things from the night before. Yancy fought back a chuckle as he looked his little brother over, looking for signs of a hookup on him.

“I must’ve left it next door…” Raleigh spoke before he could stop himself.

            After the words left his mouth Raleigh immediately wanted to kick himself for it, especially when he saw the way Yancy’s blue eyes lit up at the statement.

“Next door? You mean you were at Chuckles’ last night?” Yancy couldn’t help but smile as he spoke; he was going to have fun with this little tidbit.

            Raleigh sighed.

“Yes, I may have accidentally broken into his apartment thinking it was ours.”

            Yancy laughed outright, a shit-eating grin firmly in place by the time he could form coherent sentences again.

“What did you do kiddo? Did you seduce Chuck?”

“No! I just…Tendo dropped me off last night and I got confused about which one was ours and I just passed out on his couch.”

“Oh this is just fantastic.” Yancy laughed harder as Raleigh blushed and grumbled under his breath. “Way to make a first impression kiddo.”

“I made him breakfast…”

            Yancy had to sit down to keep his legs from giving out from underneath him and Raleigh glared at him.

“You’re a good hookup Rals.”

Raleigh kicked at Yancy, who promptly fell over, still chuckling to himself. “Oh shut up old man.” The younger Becket grumbled at his older brother, wanting to just get in a proper bed instead of dealing with a sleepy, hyena version of Yancy Becket.

 


	2. Fall Semester

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fall semester starts and Raleigh gets rather lost while trying to find his classes. While he heads to classes he seems to be missing something; he can't quite seem to place the ginger head he keeps seeing around.

The layout of the new campus was something that Raleigh knew, he just knew, he was going to have trouble with. As much as he figured he wouldn’t get too lost headed to his classes, the universe appeared to be determined to prove him wrong. It was his first class of the day and he was very happy that he had decided to get up earlier than usual to make sure he found his class before it was time for him to actually be in class. Raleigh stood, in the center of the enormous courtyard lined by buildings, map in hand, peering down at the schedule on his phone. He shook his head and his brows furrowed in concentration as he read the schedule once more.

“French Heritage 400: Taubman Hall 1421.” Raleigh sighed. “You’d think the language class would be found in the building known as the ‘Modern Languages Building’ but no, instead my Psych lecture is in there. Because that makes sense.”

            Raleigh looked down at the map once more and groaned. The aforementioned hall was one of the buildings that surrounded him, but he wasn’t sure which. He had yet to be able to figure out which one he was standing in front of and how the map itself was oriented. A breeze blew his blond hair out around him and he looked around at the buildings, searching for some distinguishing sign. He found it in the form of a huge banner, most likely left over from “Welcome Week” that said “Martin Hall” on it in front of what he assumed was Martin Hall. A small smile tugged on his lips as he looked back down at the map; Martin Hall was directly across from Taubman. Now all that was left was to find the actual classroom he needed. Raleigh walked towards the hall, glancing down at his phone as he did. He paused and furrowed his brow when he realized he had missed a text message from Yancy. He opened it and fought back a snort.

_Good luck at school Kiddo! Play nice, remember to share and no stealing the other kids’ cookies! You’re too old for the time out corner._

            Raleigh typed back a quick and simple “Fuck off Yance” before continuing towards Taubman. He opened the surprisingly heavy glass door and walked into the lobby with a look of distinct confusion on his face. He assumed that since the classroom number started with a one it’d be on the first floor. Raleigh started wandering the floor looking for signs that he was going in the right direction. Silently Raleigh was kicking himself for not doing his exploring earlier with Tendo instead of going out and partying with the man. His face burned slightly from the residual embarrassment that the thought of that night, and the following morning, brought about. He’d been thankful that since then he hadn’t seen Chuck; the last thing he wanted to deal with was getting into another awkward situation with the snarky Australian. It’d been a week since that awkward encounter and Yancy hadn’t let him hear the end of it. Raleigh’s only consolation was that apparently, Yancy hadn’t let Chuck hear the end of it either.

            Raleigh sighed as he turned a corner; out of the corner of his eye he noticed a familiar ginger head followed closely by a brown head duck into one of the computer labs. Raleigh glanced down at his phone, checking the clock once more. At this point in the morning, the earliest classes were about to start. Raleigh shrugged, figuring that the pair that had sped into the lab had to print something out before their first class. Raleigh kept wandering, looking down indistinct hallways to try and determine whether or not his class could be found down them. After a few more minutes of wandering, Raleigh heard rapid-fire French emerge from down one of the hallways. A small smile tugged at Raleigh’s lips as he recognized the series of curses uttered by a breathy, light voice. He followed it down the hallway to his left. At the end of the hallway stood a blonde woman with her hair pulled up into a loose chiffon bun. Small wisps of light blonde hair fell down around her neck. She wore a pastel maxi dress and cork wedges; he could smell the floral perfume she wore from halfway down the hallway. Instantly, Raleigh knew he had found his professor.

            The young woman let out another string of curses as she bobbled her coffee in her valiant effort to open the classroom door while holding a stack of what had to be heavy books, and her overly large purse. Raleigh reacted quickly, he moved down the hallway quickly, grabbing the coffee cup and opening the door for her in one smooth motion. She looked up at him and blinked, smiling once she had processed what had happened. Raleigh smiled back, blue eyes sparkling as he did.

“Thank you young man.” She spoke English with a French accent, but her voice was just as light and elegant as it had been while she had been cursing the door in front of her to hell and back again.

“You’re welcome Madame.” Raleigh replied, noting the gold band adorning her left ring finger as he did.

            She smiled at him and he held the door open for her as she walked into the classroom. It was empty, as Raleigh had expected it to be at this hour. He had at least another half an hour before the other students would show up. The professor put down the books she was carrying on one of the many empty desks near the front and let out a sigh of relief. Raleigh walked in after her silently. He placed the coffee cup on what he assumed was the professor’s desk at the very front of the class room. The young professor turned towards him once more and smiled brightly.

“Êtes-vous l'un de mes étudiants?” She asked carefully in slow French, just in case he couldn’t understand her.

            Raleigh nodded, indicating that he had understood and that yes, he was one of her students before speaking: “Oui madame je suis. Mon nom de Raleigh Becket, le plaisir de vous rencontrer.” His French was a little rusty and he winced slightly as he recognized that his intonation was a bit off. It had been a while since he had spoken to anyone in French other than to Yancy in moments of either extreme drunkenness or anger. The young professor’s smile brightened as she pulled out a laptop from her purse.

            As soon as Raleigh had introduced himself she returned the favor, despite the fact that he already knew her name because of the syllabus: Anais Paquet. She then proceeded to ask Raleigh questions, namely about himself, his learning styles and why he was taking the course. The blond man was happy enough to answer the questions that she had to the best of his ability without making it awkward. The way that she spoke reminded him of his mother; part of him wondered if they were from the same region before a dull ache spread through his chest. He shook the thought away and enjoyed the ability to not only converse in his second native language but to get to know his professor one on one before class started. Slowly a few more students trickled in and Raleigh found himself taking a seat near the middle of the class as Professor Paquet prepared the into lecture slides. A couple more students filtered in before they could technically be counted as “late” and Raleigh found himself quietly observing his classmates. Everyone was silent, which was normal enough for the beginning lecture of a new class. A few of the students Raleigh could tell were extremely uncomfortable. They were fidgeting in their seats as the professor introduced herself to them in rapid fire French. He guessed they, like him, hadn’t gotten the chance to speak the language in a while and were worried about being up to par.

            When the class was asked to introduce themselves to one another Raleigh realized that out of the small class he probably had the least amount of English inflection in his speaking. That fact surprised him a little but not to an alarming degree. He figured this was the culmination of the years that the Becket family had traveled abroad and having Yancy teach him how to sound “more French”. Once Professor Paquet resumed speaking to the class about the syllabus Raleigh noticed a pair of students sitting to his left. A young man and woman sat in the pair of desks to his immediate left; they bore a striking resemblance to one another. Raleigh could only figure that they were fraternal twins; they had the same rich, dark eyes, black glossy hair and air of disinterest. Raleigh had to fight back the urge to make a noise of disgust as the girl pulled out a nail file from her purse and began to file her nails as instead of paying attention to the professor.

            Soon enough his class was over and he found himself filing out of the classroom in a similar manner to the other students. He looked down at his schedule on his phone once he was in the hallway before letting out a sigh of relief; he knew where his next class was. His next lecture was in the Modern Languages Building auditorium C, and was on behavioural psychology. Raleigh moved quickly, navigating the hallways a smoothly as he could having just been lost in them a few hours prior and exited the building. The crisp morning air greeted him as he exited Taubman Hall. A warm breeze floated past him, mussing his hair as he walked towards the building he needed to be in. Thankfully the buildings weren’t too far apart and Raleigh made it there in a matter of a few minutes. As he walked up to the building he saw a man leaning up against the wall next to the door the building adjacent to the Modern Languages building. Although Raleigh could only see the side of his face he could have sworn that he recognized the jaw line and deeply set dimple. The man turned his back to him as a smaller, brown haired man emerged from the building. He had thick, black rimmed glasses and spiky short brown hair. Raleigh walked into the building, ignoring the nagging sense that he had seen the former before and headed to his lecture.

            The auditorium was rapidly filling up with students when he arrived. He did his best to snag a seat relatively near the aisle and quickly began unpacking his laptop. The professor for this course had sent out a class-wide email stating that they could all read, therefore there was no need to pointlessly go over the syllabus during class time. The first lecture in behavioural psychology, unlike most classes, was to be a real lecture and not what the professor had christened a “get to know me” session. Raleigh carefully balanced his laptop on the small pullout desk that was attached to his seat; part of him wondered whether or not the piece of technology would survive the precarious position or not. Yancy would kill him if he had to buy a new laptop after the first day of classes. Just as Raleigh was debating whether or not to give up on the idea of the pullout desk and just sit the laptop on his lap another student sat next to him. He turned, out of instinct, towards them and offered them a smile. The small Asian woman seated next to him offered him a hesitant, yet distinctly unimpressed, smile in return. Raleigh noticed that she had brilliant, electric blue streaks in the bottom of her hair and found himself slightly surprised.

“That’s an awesome color.” He pointed out lamely.

            Mentally he could just hear Yancy yelling at him, expressions like: “god dammit Rals what have I told you about saying stupid things to a lady! Of course she knows it’s an awesome color,” and “That’s it, I quit! You’re completely hopeless and lame; you’re going to die old, alone and with ten cats,” popped into his head.

Despite his lame opener the young woman smiled and replied with a simple, “Thank you.” Her voice was soft, but seemingly out of restraint more than anything else. A small accent tinged her inflection and Raleigh smiled once more.

“I’m Raleigh.” He offered, hoping that maybe he could salvage the situation and make a friend.

“Mako Mori.” Came the simple reply.

“Nice to meet you Mako.” Raleigh’s response was a little hesitant, unsure of whether or not he was being disrespectful by addressing her by her first name instead of last.

            Mako smiled at him calmly, ignoring his hesitance.

“Nice to meet you as well Raleigh.”

            Before either of them could fully start up a conversation the professor walked in and started talking, rapidly, about behavioural psychology. The pair found themselves rapidly typing, or in Mako’s case writing on a tablet, notes. After a frantic hour and a half of lecture the professor had decided that was enough for the day and let them out half an hour early. All of the students started to pack up their stuff and Raleigh turned to Mako. He figured she seemed nice and having a friend in a lecture like this one would only help him in the future.

“Do you have a class after this?” He asked quietly.

            Mako shook her head in response, blue and black lock swinging slightly as she did. “Not for an hour or so.”

“Do you want to grab some coffee?”

            Mako paused in putting her tablet in her bag, as if contemplating her response. She shoved her tablet in the bag and then smiled lightly. “Alright.”

            Raleigh beamed at her and Mako rolled her eyes good naturedly in response.  The pair walked out of the lecture hall together, making small talk as they did. Raleigh found himself joking with Mako by the time the pair had reached the coffee shop. It was like they had just clicked.

“You’re kidding right? That’s awesome!” Raleigh exclaimed as he opened the door for her.

            Mako laughed lightly.

“I can assure you Mr. Becket, I am not kidding. The professor just let us sleep instead of giving us an actual midterm.” Raleigh wasn’t sure when his last name had come up in conversation, but Mako seemed to use it to emphasize her seriousness.

            They approached the counter with twin smiles on their faces. Raleigh laughed as he couldn’t believe the story Mako was telling, but couldn’t help but trust her. The pair ordered their coffees and Raleigh paid for them, despite Mako’s insistence that she pay for herself. Once their coffees came out, a caffe latte for Mako and an espresso for Raleigh, the pair sat down at one of the booths near the window.

“What did you think of our psych professor?” Raleigh asked as he took a sip of his espresso.

“I think he knows what he’s talking about. Also that his exams are going to be very hard.” Mako answered.

“I’m worried about that.” Raleigh laughed sheepishly before continuing, “I don’t study well.”

            Mako laughed before taking a sip of her latte. She returned it to the table and smiled.

“You’re impulsive and make decisions that deviate from standard procedures?”

            The fact that she deadpanned her statement as she spoke threw Raleigh off. Once she laughed lightly Raleigh let out a chuckle as well.

“Are you profiling me Miss Mori?” He asked in return.

            Mako took another sip of her latte and smirked. “Perhaps, you’re different than I expected.” She retorted in Japanese automatically, not expecting him to respond.

“Better or worse?” Raleigh answered in relatively hesitant Japanese.

            Mako’s eyebrows rose in surprise and a full smile tugged at her lips.

“I did not know you spoke Japanese.”

“I picked up a little as a kid, not much though. Yance was always better at picking up languages than I was.” Raleigh explained, gesturing a little as he did.

“Yance?” Mako repeated questioningly, her head tilted slightly in confusion as she spoke.

“Yeah, my older brother Yancy. He learned French and English at the same time, which made him pick up languages faster.”

            Mako nodded in understanding.

“My father taught me English when I was very young.” She shared.

            She glanced at her phone to see that she needed to leave and offered Raleigh an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, I have class.”

            Raleigh nodded in understanding and stood up at the same time as Mako. The pair exchanged smiles and Raleigh pulled out his own phone, checking it to see where his next class was.

“Raleigh?” Mako spoke softly, gesturing for him to hand her his phone as she did.

            Raleigh obeyed silently, and handed Mako his phone. She typed quickly before returning the phone to him. She smiled and picked up her coffee and her bag before saying goodbye. Raleigh smiled as she left, glancing down at his phone once more. Mako had added a little smiley face to her contact name and Raleigh found it strangely fitting. He changed the screen to show the photo he had taken of his schedule. He only had one class left: history. He headed towards the building, once again in Taubman Hall with a smile on his face. He liked Mako, she seemed grounded and incredibly smart. She gave off an air of power and intelligence, it intrigued Raleigh.

            The blond man found himself zoning out a bit as he walked, thinking about his newfound friendship as well as what he was going to have for lunch.  A shout of: “Oi Gieszler!” drew Raleigh out of his thoughts and he found himself looking around at hearing the familiar accent and voice. He paused, waiting to see if he heard it again; he caught another glimpse of dimples and ginger hair before a wave of people exited Taubman Hall. Raleigh scratched his head and furrowed his brows in confusion.

“I could’ve sworn that sounded like Chuck…” Raleigh muttered to himself.

            He took one last sip of his espresso and tossed it in the trashcan at the entrance of Taubman Hall before entering the building. The thought of seeing Chuck again was a little odd and Raleigh found himself thinking about it as he walked back to the auditorium he had passed when exploring earlier that morning. Raleigh entered the auditorium and took a seat without thinking about it; he was operating completely on automatic as his mind was elsewhere.

“Nah, that doesn’t make sense. Yance would have told me.” Raleigh muttered, glancing down at he muttered.

            Against his better judgment Raleigh typed out a message to his older brother, knowing that he’d be on his lunch break at this time. The reply was quick and Raleigh found himself groaning at the answer.

_No shit he goes to that University. You think a smart asshole like him would go to somewhere less “prestigious”? Rals, no jumping him in class! You’re too young to go to jail for indecent exposure._

“Goddammit Yance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Thanks so much for all the love of chapter 1! I'm glad y'all liked it and I hope that this chapter holds up (I know it's not as interesting as the first one but hopefully it's still entertaining). The french Raleigh and his professor use might not be entirely accurate seeing as I don't speak french but I tried (and had my mother who speaks it fluently check it lol). Basically Professor Paquet asks if Raleigh is one of her students and Raleigh answers that he is and it's nice to meet her. So yeah, sorry this chapter took so long (I hate writing sort of filler-y/chapters that function as character intros but they're necessary). Hopefully the next one'll be up a little faster. Until next time!


	3. Sushi Dates

“For fuck’s sake Geizler can you hurry up?”

             Chuck leaned against the wall of the biology lab in the science building, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed waiting for his friend. A loud bang followed closely by a series of slightly squeaky exclamations coming from inside the lab served as his answer. Chuck rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath as he waited less than patiently. After another loud clang Chuck stuck his head in the lab room, glaring as he scanned for his friend. The lab was a mess, there were papers scattered everywhere, the remnants of a few different dissections sat on top of three different lab tables. The young Australian caught sight of a brown, disheveled head of hair sticking up from behind a cabinet and sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose, he could swear he could feel a headache coming on.

“This place is a fuckin’ mess.” Chuck remarked under his breath.

“It’s not my fault! The data was just so interesting!” Came a shout from behind the cabinet.

             Chuck walked over to one of the dissection tables and looked down at the bloody mess in disgust. He picked up a pair of tweezers and used them to slowly lift one of its tentacles, he grimaced as he asked, “What the hell is so interesting about a bunch of dead octopi?”  He let the lifeless tentacle fall onto the metal tray with a limp slap and he returned the tweezers to their place. His friend practically materialized next to him and immediately set about pulling off his slightly bloodied, blue latex gloves.

“It’s all very interesting really; the structure of the octopi is as fascinating.”

            Chuck rolled his eyes and ruffled his friend’s already messed up hair.

“You’re ridiculous Newt. It’s a fuckin’ octopus.”

“Exactly” Newt replied mildly offended.

             Chuck smiled and gave his friend a once over. The other man’s glasses were tilted on his nose, his skinny jeans, although marred with dust around the knees didn’t seem to have caught any stray ink splatter. His white button down was rumpled but thankfully, not covered in octopus guts this time. Newt had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, revealing his tattoo sleeves. Newt fixed his glasses and glanced down at himself and tried valiantly to wipe the dust off of his jeans.

“You done?” Chuck asked once more, clearly trying to get the older man to hurry up.

            Newt glanced back at the room and shrugged.

“I’ll just leave a sign.”

            Chuck watched in confusion as Newt opened one of the lab station drawers and pulled out a laminated sign that read: “I am coming back. Don’t touch anything.” In all caps. At the edge of the sign, next to Newt’s signature was a doodled, rampaging Godzilla. Chuck laughed and shook his head, this was classic Newt. Chuck turned around and headed back outside of the lab and Newt followed, with the sign. Once they were both out Newt closed the door and locked it before tacking the sign on the little observation window. Once he was done he turned around and smiled at Chuck, who had already started down the long hallway ahead of him. Newt jogged a little to catch up to his friend, Chuck’s strides were much longer than his own.

“So where are we going? Cause if we’re going to get food I vote sushi.”

            Chuck made a face at his friend. “How can you go from dissecting octopus to wanting sushi?”

            Newt shrugged as though the action was explanation enough and Chuck rolled his eyes.

“We can grab food in a sec, I need to go to the physics lab first.”

            Newt let out a groan and glared at his companion as they walked “Why am I going with you? You know I hate the physics lab.”

“Because it’s grad student research time and I’m not a grad student.” Chuck smiled slightly as he spoke, his companion’s whining about the physics lab always seemed to amuse him for some reason.

            Newt sighed and threw his hands up in defeat. “I see how it is, using me for my credentials.”

            As the pair walked over to the lab they continued joking happily. They rounded the corner of the hallway and loud cursing in German could be heard. Newt stopped dead and gave Chuck a look as his shook his head vehemently.

“No way man you know the deal.”

            Chuck stopped and sighed heavily, giving the older man an incredulous look.

“Seriously mate? It’s just one dude.”

“Yeah, one dude that seems to have his head so far up his ass it’s a hat.”

            Chuck scoffed.

“No seriously, stuffy bastard.”

            Chuck shook his head. Before Chuck could argue with the other man his phone rang loudly, indicating he’d received a text. Newt took the opportunity to start running back to the lab, shouting over his shoulder to his friend “Sorry dude, my octopi need me more than you do.” Chuck swore under his breath as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He unlocked it and looked down at the text from Mako. It simply read: “Sadako, now.” Chuck ran a hand through his hair. He spared a glance at the direction of the physics lab and decided that getting sushi with Mako outweighed the idea of trying to muscle his way past an ornery, German grad student into the physics lab. Chuck typed a quick reply and headed towards the nearest exit. As he walked he pulled up Newt in his contact list and sent him a quick text as well, just to spite the older man he mentioned the sushi and that he wouldn’t bring him any.

            The years he knew Mako prompted Chuck to hurry as he headed towards the sushi restaurant. Mako cherished punctuality, at least she held Chuck accountable when he was late. He muttered under his breath as he jogged out the door, pushing past two undergrads with ridiculously large bags as he did. Shortly he found himself approaching the popular sushi restaurant, mentally he was trying to sort out what sushi to order. Chuck reached for the creaky red door of the restaurant at the same time as a couple started to leave. Begrudgingly he held the door open for them as they exited before entering. He scanned the restaurant for Mako’s signature black and blue bob. Only when he laid eyes on it he also caught sight of a familiar blond head.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” He groaned as he approached the pair in the booth.

            Chuck clapped a hand on Raleigh’s shoulder and glared down at the blond as he spoke. “You’re in my seat Ray.”

            Raleigh looked up at Chuck in surprise before looking over at Mako. The young Japanese woman gestured for Raleigh to make room for Chuck, which obediently, he did. Chuck sat down and the two men exchanged quick, awkward glances before turning their gaze back to Mako.

In union the two men found themselves pointing at each other, staring down Mako as they asked: “You know him?”

Mako rolled her eyes at them and simply nodded as she took a sip of her Matcha tea. Raleigh sighed heavily before taking a sip of his own tea. A waitress came over to take Chuck’s order and Raleigh took the opportunity to gauge Mako’s reaction to the situation. The young woman was clearly amused as Chuck put on a cocksure front in front of the other man. Chuck leaned back, ordering confidently before smirking at Raleigh before turning back to the waitress.

“Thanks love.” He smiled at the waitress as she left to get his drink.

            Raleigh rolled his eyes at the younger man and Chuck picked up his chopsticks. He snagged Gyoza that Mako had ordered for the table and popped it in his mouth. As he was chewing he spoke, “So how the hell did you two meet?”

            “Behavioural psychology lecture.” Mako answered succinctly.

            Chuck swallowed the remainder of his Gyoza before turning to Raleigh and smirking.

“Learning your way around the law, eh Ray?”

“It’s Raleigh.”

“Whatever, wouldn’t have pegged you for a psych nerd.”

            Mako made a sour face at the comment.

“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a cocky jackass, oh wait yes I would’ve.” Raleigh replied without missing a beat.

            The corners of Mako’s mouth turned up at the remark, and Chuck, despite himself smirked as well.

“It’s not cockiness if I can back it up.” Chuck retorted.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works Chuckles.” Raleigh snorted in response.

            Mako stifled a giggle into her tea as Chuck glared at the nickname. Before things could escalate she decided to interject: “How did you meet?”

“Ray here decided to break into my apartment while drunk.” Chuck clapped a hand on Raleigh’s back and Raleigh grimaced as Chuck continued, “Then, like a nice little hookup, made me breakfast.”

            The sushi arrived and Mako shook her head.

“My brother lives next door and I got the apartments mixed up.” Raleigh offered as an explanation.

            Mako nodded in understanding and took a bite of her tuna sashimi. Chuck took a swig of his beer before digging into his own sushi. Raleigh made a face at Chuck’s eating habits.

“You’re eating like a caveman.” He remarked under his breath.

            Chuck paused, holding a piece of dragon roll in his chopsticks and began to wave it around as he talked.

“Oh I’m sorry princess, did I offend your delicate sensibilities Ray?”

“Nah, I’m just wondering whether or not you were raised with dingos or just enjoying making a scene out of your meal.”

            Chuck snorted, “Probably better than middle of nowhere like you were raised. Tell me Ray, what did you do before you got here?”

“I worked a bit in construction while studying.” Raleigh replied honestly.

“So when I need someone to build our way out of a problem I’ll call you.”

“Chuck, stop.” Mako spoke up, glaring at her friend.

            Chuck took another bite of sushi.

“You really broke into his apartment and stayed the night?” Mako asked.

            Raleigh blushed lightly. “Yeah…” He started sheepishly, “I slept on the couch and just didn’t question why there was a dog there.”

“Perhaps not the best idea, as I’m sure you found out. Chuck’s not a gracious host.” Mako quipped.

“Oi Mako, he broke into my apartment not the other way around.”

“And you’re a terrible host. I’m merely stating fact.”

            Raleigh laughed as Chuck grumbled in response.

“Fuckin’ hell.”

            One of the hosts in the restaurant turned on the TV in the corner of the restaurant, immediately turning the channel to the college football game. Raleigh’s interest was immediately piqued, although he liked hockey more than football he could appreciate a good game of the American classic. Chuck noticed Raleigh’s shift in attention and let out a snort.

“That’s not real football mate.”

“Because soccer is real football right?” Raleigh replied sarcastically.

“Footie, is the real sport. It’s faster and rougher than your bloody soccer.”

The reply from Raleigh came automatically and without thought, he regretted it slightly as soon as he said it. “Oh and that’s what counts?”

Chuck smirked and Mako face palmed.

“Please Raleigh, do not encourage him. He’s incorrigible.”

            Chuck’s smirk grew, ready to reply when the waitress arrived, carrying separate checks for the three of them. She placed the checks in front of them with a smile and Chuck immediately pulled out his wallet, intent on paying his bill.

“Raleigh and I were going to the library after this if you want to join us.” Mako offered.

“Thanks Maks but I gotta head back to the physics lab. Newt owes me a ticket into the lab for my engineering project.” Chuck replied.

            Raleigh and Mako also paid their bills and the waitress collected them as Mako took a sip of her tea.

“Engineering huh?” Raleigh spoke up, genuinely surprised by Chuck’s interest.

“What you thought I was going for communications?” Chuck replied.

“Chuck’s always been interested in engineering.”

“And I’ve got a project for EECS 540 I’ve got to finish before Monday.”

“EECS 540?” Raleigh asked, slightly confused.

“It’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Quantum Mechanics specifically. I’m not just another pretty face Ray.” Chuck explained.

“You’d have to be pretty for that to be applicable.” Raleigh retorted.

            Chuck feigned hurt as the waitress returned the various cards to their owners. Chuck shoved his credit card back into his wallet and then into his pocket.  He stood up almost immediately after the wallet was securely placed back into his pocket. He had a project he really needed to finish, “Later Maks. Ray.” He nodded at both of them before taking a final sip of his coke and heading out of the restaurant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry about the lack of updates. Last semester was really kicking my ass so I had to focus on school. BUT! I am officially out for summer break so, I will most likely be updating more often. Hopefully this chapter is good enough to make up for, at least a little, the distinct lack of updates. I am planning on seeing this all the way through so don't worry. I hope y'all have a great night! Also, all of your comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for all of your support, it really means a lot to me. Thanks again!


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